Two White Knights
by Whisper2AScream
Summary: Xander's not the only White Knight out there. What happens when he and another switch places?
1. I'm where? Oh boy!

Title: Two White Knights  
Author: Whisper2AScream  
Disclaimer: Sam, Al, and company aren't mine; they belong to Donald P. Bellisario, Bellisarius Productions, Universal Television, etc. Buffy, Xander, and company, again, aren't mine, they belong to the evil one known as Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Twentieth Century Fox, etc. Not making one ####### red cent out of this, just for own amusement to combine universes together.  
Rating: PG (eh? Content about same level with the shows.)  
Spoilers: Post - 4th season Buffy, No real spoilers for Quantum Leap  
Summary: Xander's not the only White Knight out there. What happens when he and another switch places?  
Archive:Yep  
Feedback:Absolutely!  
  
  
  
Sam gave a small tired smile. It had been a hard Leap. But now that mother and daughter had made amends, after years of bitterness, things would look up. Wrong righted, and Sam could begin feeling the familiar spectral energy arcing around him, signifying the next Leap. Where would it be? Back in the turbulent sixties like he was now, or further onward. Perhaps even... home? At last? Then the surrounding energy came to a crescendo, blazing around Sam, and he was pulled away, sent tumbling through a temporal stream. Bright blue-white light all around. However, this time a disharmonic vibration reverberated throughout the temporal field, and the blue-white light took murky red-black tones for a second before subsiding back as normal. Then the light was all around Sam and within himself, and it exploded. Crashing into...  
Then there was darkness. Sam looked around. No, there was light, but the dim light of streetlights, suggesting that it was currently nighttime. He quickly took in his surroundings. Location: Outside. Time: Nighttime, probably about 10pm. Date: Well, that was the question wasn't it? Could be anytime between 1953, Sam's birth year, to whatever the year is now at Project Quantum Leap. Though, Sam's swiss-cheesed memory dimly recalled a few dissertations from that, where he had leaped much earlier than he was supposed to be able to. Well, no matter, streetlamps were a promising sign, definitely well into the 20th Century.  
"Xander! Look out!" Sam heard a female voice cry out a split second before he was grabbed from behind. Sam's martial arts-trained instincts kicked in, and his foot snaked out to catch his assailant's ankle. He jerked, and sent his attacker tumbling to the ground. He spun around on the ball of his foot, to see who it was. It was male, that much he could tell, but there was something odd with its face. It looked disfigured, like perhaps a birth defect. Odd that the person hadn't gotten plastic surgery to repair it in all these years. With a growl emerging low in the throat, the thing got up and tried to come after him again. Sam ducked low, and lashed out with his right foot, kicking into the man's stomach. It barely fazed him, but before he could attack again, a blond girl streaked in front of the two men, and with one swift move, drove a wooden stake into the strange-looking attacker's chest. Sam could only stare in amazement as his assailant then abruptly disappeared into a pile of ashes. The girl, or young woman, considering she looked to be almost twenty, sighed exasperatedly as she caught his surprised look.   
"Xander, why are you just standing there? Not like you haven't seen vampires before." She shook her head in amazement. Then, as though sensing something off, she looked at him again. Sam's eyes widened in shock. It was if she was looking through him, seeing past his host's aura, to himself. She slammed him into the ground, and held a stake to his chest in what seemed to be mere seconds.  
"Hi, I'm Buffy Summers, the Slayer, and I'd like to know where my friend is now." she asked with false cheerfulness, her eyes hard and icy with anger.  
Sam gulped, "Oh boy."  



	2. Enter a knight, later enter another

(Cue Theme: {Actually an odd conglomeration of QL and BtVS theme fusion, with a matching credit sequence, where Leaping scenes interwoven with Slaying scenes}  
Proving the existence of vampires, Buffy Anne Summers came to live in Sunnydale, where she daily puts right what goes wrong on the Hellmouth, and hoping each time that she'll eventually live a normal life.  
  
In a single generation a Leaper was born. One man in all the world with the ability to travel through time, and right what went wrong. He will stand against the strands of Fate, and fight the forces of evil. He is the Leaper.)  
  
"Well? You know I could be here all night, but oh dear, that fight took a bit out of me, and I'm feeling a bit tired. This stake could just slip and..."   
Sam sighed, though in the back of his mind, he wondered at the girl's level of sanity. After all, the only ones who can see past the aura of the host he Leaped into that hid Sam from view, were babies/small children, animals, and crazy people. This young woman certainly wasn't in the first two categories, leaving only choice number three. However, considering that Sam had just seen a person with a hideously deformed face disintegrate into a cloud of dust, he had to wonder at his own level of sanity.  
He sighed, looks like he wasn't going to have a choice in the matter, "You're right, I'm not Xander. My name is Dr. Sam Beckett. I assure you, he's quite safe, and will be back soon."  
Buffy studied his face a bit, and seeing that he was telling the truth, let him up. However, she kept a tight grip on the stake, and stood close by in a defensive stance, just in case.  
"Be back soon? I know he didn't just take a coffee break. What are you? A ghost?"   
Sam looked confused, "A ghost? Uh, no." He relaxed upon hearing the familiar sound of the Doorway opening. Al wasn't usually this punctual, especially at the beginning of a Leap, but Sam would take any favors he could get.  
"Sam! Glad we found you. Ziggy's going completely psycho. Babbling something about a Mouth of Hell, and that it's throwing everything ca-ca. Um, we got a little information. Your name is Alexander La..." Al stared at the handlink and gave it a slap, garnering squeals of protests from the multi-colored device, "La... oh, Lavelle Harris. What kind of nozzle gives their kid a moniker like that?" The Observer just shook his head, and continued, "19 years old, and living in the small town of Sunnydale, CA. And Sam, you should see the list of crime reports that come out of this 'burb! Makes Hell's Kitchen look downright safe in comparison."  
Meanwhile, the young woman also had noticed Al's entrance, and was staring intently at him.   
"Ok, who are you, and my God, that is the most hideous outfit I have ever seen in my entire life!" She exclaimed blinking in shock at the teal blue slacks, the bright yellow shirt with matching socks, a silver-brushed teal jacket, and a blue fedora that the short Italian man sported. Sam and Al both glanced back at her.  
Al's eyes were practically bugging out of the sockets, "What the hell? Sam, she can see me?!?"  
Sam shrugged, though he was equally nonplussed at how this Leap was starting off so far, "Makes sense, Al, she saw me clear as day."  
Then, another figure came bounding up, a young woman with short red hair.  
"Hey, Buffy, you wouldn't believe what just happened. I was trying out this spell, and what...?" She trailed off, noting the odd look on the Slayer's face. She glanced over at Xander, and her face held some confusion.  
"Uh, Xander?"  
Buffy never taking her eyes off Sam and Al, "Willow, it's not Xander. He's been possessed by some older guy, and there's another ghost here."  
"Ghost? Sam, what's with this crazy chick?" Al asked the physicist.  
"Al isn't a ghost either. He's a hologram." Sam explained.  
"Wha? Where's Xander? What have you done with him?" Willow turned on Sam, her blue eyes flashing with anger.  
"Calm down, please. It's hard to explain, but your friend is fine, and will come back soon." Sam said in the most soothing voice he could muster.  
"Yeah, well, start talking, genius, else we'll find a way to yank you out of there."  
"Saaaam! You know the rules!"  
"Al, I don't have a choice, they know who I am already." Sam sighed, and explained, "As I said to Buffy here before you arrived, my name is Dr. Samuel Beckett, and I'm..."  
"A physicist," Willow finished, her eyes gleaming over the honor of meeting such a well-known person, at least in science circles, "And you were supposedly doing something with time travel, right? I've seen some articles about you on the Internet. Wow, but why are you possessing Xander?"  
"Dammit, I'm going to have a talk with that bucket of bolts on security matters around here concerning the Internet." Al growled under his breath. The handlink then squealed in protest to this remark, sounding rather offended.  
Buffy's ears immediately picked on it, "What the hell was that?"  
Willow then said, "Uh, Buffy, why don't we go over to Giles, and discuss this. Um, you guys probably don't know it, but there's a lot of, uh, crime around here, and it's not that safe to be out at night."  
"Yeah, good point. Ok, Dr. Spock, or whoever you are, let's go." Buffy's face dared the scientist to try to defy her as she grabbed his arm to pull him along. Sam just sighed, and walked along beside the two girls.  
Meanwhile, Al was getting some more information about their current location.   
"Yeah, Ziggy checked some of the historical records here, and supposedly when the Spanish visited this area they christened the region, Boca Del Infierno. Which translates to..."  
"The Mouth of Hell or Hellmouth." Sam finished, translating the Spanish with ease. Somewhere in among his numerous doctorates, there was some for languages, current, and dead ones even. He caught Al's ashen reaction at the translation, and scoffed, "What? It must just be a harmless legend. Something to scare the tourists most likely."  
Buffy overhearing this exchange, spoke up, "Uh-uh. It is exactly what it means. In fact, the library of my high school was parked squarely over it. And because of it, we get all sorts of demons, and vampires and other uglies showing up." The group headed off, with the two new arrivals observing their surroundings at every opportunity.  
  
---------------------------------------------   
  
Elsewhere across the stretches of time, beneath the desert sands of New Mexico was Project Quantum Leap, the base for everything related to Dr. Beckett's time travel experiment. Within the Waiting Room, the newest Visitor was pacing about the small, blue room.   
Xander Harris had only a bare idea of where he was. Some short Italian guy with interesting fashion sense for an Admiral had stopped by earlier for his name, age, location, rank, ...whoa, where did that last part come from? In fact, Xander had the slight twinge to salute the guy. Remnants of being Soldier Boy he chalked it up to. Surprisingly, he found himself supplying the information easily, not one sarcastic remark. Maybe, because he felt he was seeing a really twisted older version of himself? ...Naaah! Couldn't be. Though one thing was sure, he didn't feel like himself. For one thing, he was having trouble remembering stuff. Ok, so he's no genius, but he had a decent memory, but now he was having trouble remembering things. Like when he and Willow were growing up. But the other guy had left so he couldn't ask him what was going on.  
Then, a door opened, and a rather pretty black woman stepped in. Looked professional, another officer?  
"Hello, Alexander. My name is Dr. Verbena Beeks. I'm a psychiatrist so feel free to tell me what's troubling you." Nope, civilian. Why the heck was he fixating on military today?  
"What's troubling me? You're a shrink, can't you guess?" Xander replied exasperatedly, running his hand through his hair, "I'm suddenly in this weird place, dressed in something that's well, tight," He glanced down at the white Fermi bodysuit he was wearing, "I can't remember stuff, like my best friend, and I don't feel like myself. Oh, no, nothing troubling whatsoever." He then sank down on the edge of the cot, "So, where am I?"  
She shook her head, "Sorry, I can't tell you that. But I wondering, is there anything in your life that's troubling you?" She sat down in a nearby chair.  
A thought popped into Xander's head, "This isn't the Initiative, is it? I mean, thought that place got destroyed and all." Unless they set up a new place? Oh God, got to warn the others if he makes it out of here.  
Dr. Beeks frowned, wondering what this young man was talking about, "Initiative? No. Is that where you were last?"  
"Uh, no. Uh, forget I mentioned it." She seemed sincere about not knowing what it was, but in that case, they probably don't know anything about the Hellmouth, or Buffy, and he certainly wasn't giving up _that_ information. At best, they'll just think he's crazy, at worst, they might come after Buffy, Willow, Giles and the others. He didn't want to take the chance of risking their lives.  
"Ok," the doctor said, unsurely. She suspected Ziggy was probably keeping track of this conversation and was looking it up as they spoke. Anything to shed some light on this Leap would be helpful. But right now, she had a patient to help. He seemed well... highly nervous, almost skittish. Best thing was to try to calm him down anyway possible. "It's all right. Nobody here is going to harm you, and you'll only be here for a short time." She spoke soothingly.  
"Then, why am I here? And..." Xander trailed off, looking at his hands. Why did they seem so old? They weren't smooth hands bespeaking someone with youth and vigor, they were more careworn, experienced. Kind of like Giles' hands, though Xander had no idea why his mind had made such a note about the former Watcher's hands. But this pair before his eyes were not his own.   
"Oh God, this isn't me. Are you guys, body snatchers? Did you possess my body or something?" He looked around wildly.  
Verbena stood up, "Whoa, easy there." *Kid must be into science fiction.* Xander got up, and backed away from the psychologist, "Uh-huh. Look wherever you guys are from: Ninth Circle of Hell, or London, I don't care. But I want to be in my body in Sunnydale right now." He emphatically gestured.  
"I'm sorry, but we can't do that. The thing is a friend of ours has temporarily taken over things in your life."  
"A friend? Look, you tell Ghost Man or whoever the hell he is, to quit with the possession thing, because it's really old, and been overdone." Though, this possession seemed odder than most, he's not usually in some strange room. Typically, he's just pushed aside while somebody else takes over.  
Verbena frowned in thought, wondering if the young man takes things in the movies too seriously. Though while he was rather flustered, his behavior was as though he was used to having odd events happen. Sam's never Leaped into anybody in this area or time before, so why was Mr. Harris acting as such? She hoped Al had getting some information, and quick.   
Another feminine sounding voice spoke, "Doctor, I have successfully retrieved the information about the Initiative."   
Xander glanced around, wondering who it was. The sound was coming from everywhere, so some type of PA system. But there were no discernible speakers, or intercom set up.   
Dr. Beeks said, "Thanks, Ziggy. Just send it on Al."  
Xander then asked, "That's odd. Thought everything was destroyed."  
"Not entirely, Mr. Harris. There was a backup system of files stored in an hidden server."  
Verbena almost audibly groaned. The supercomputer knew to limit contact with the Visitors normally, but she couldn't resist flaunting her ability to bend the rules. But then, again, so did her creator, which obviously shows his influence on her.  
Xander meanwhile, nodded, "Dr. Walsh probably. Couldn't resist gloating over her stuff, even though it killed her. Kind of like the Dr. Frankenstein that she was."   
Verbena was a little confused about this. She figured the young man spoke figuratively. At least she hoped that was the case. In all honesty, the young man seemed to completely believe what he said, and he didn't sound delusional. Actually, he made it sound like he was used to odd situations, and that worried her more than anything else. She wondered what Sam had Leaped into the middle of, this time.  



End file.
